by the way, ambassador romero, it is great to see you in so many other friends. i am very proud to be here. the first latino and a democratic administration in this position, and the first political appointee in the bureau of western hemispheric affairs and a democratic government since 1958. where do we stand? let me give you a little background. i want to say that first that i see the situation in latin america as the glass half full rather than half empty. and maybe that is a bed of the historian in me. -- a bit of the historian and me. if you look back not that far ago, we had a situation where between the 1960's and 1980's, you had authoritarian governments in every country except for three. with a terrific experiences like argentina, where 30,000 disappeared, -- with the horrific experiences like in argentina, where 30,000 people disappeared, and in the 1980's, there open complex in a series of concert -- of countries and central america. the economic situation through the 1980's was devastating for the region in particular. the famous debt crisis. in fact,